Her Adventure Through the Time Warp
by JuMoFi of the March Hare
Summary: There was one "Once upon a time..." that everyone almost forgot, one that involved a girl falling down a rabbit hole. In an AU taking place thousands of years before, Alicia Liddell takes the biggest risk to find her "white rabbit", the one that can save past, present, and future and send her back home.
1. Prologue

***This story will be going on a slight hiatus while I am currently finishing my other fics. Please also note that some details are subject to change when I do get back to writing this. Thank you for reading in advance! :D ***

Prologue:

* * *

 _Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock..._

* * *

"Dad, D-Dad...what just..what just happened? Who were those people?" The scientist's daughter whimpered.

Her father, Henry, grunted as he pushed a bookcase in front of the door. "We...We don't have time...It'll...It'll be okay...I-I promise."

He pulled away a string of dark brown hair from his sweaty forehead, matting it with the rest of his salt-and-pepper locks. His daughter choked on a sob when her eyes lingered towards his shoulder.

"They shot you...But their guns..."

"Don't worry about me...Stay away...from the door..."

"Dad, we have to alert the constable!"

"We can't!" Henry winced at the shock of pain that scattered across his body, gripping his left shoulder as he gnashed his teeth together.

* * *

 _Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock..._

* * *

His shaken daughter jumped at his voice. The other exhaled, a deep, gruff noise that erupted from his throat.

"I'm sorry...Just...stay calm...It'll be okay."

To their dismay, more shots cracked behind the steel door of their basement. Men shouted and barked orders, making the young girl cower behind her father.

"Get away from the door!" her father ordered.

Both of them pulled away with skiddish steps. The father grunted at the last, slipping onto his knees as he tried to distract himself from his wound. The girl failed to lift him up onto his feet so she kneeled down beside him. She held onto his hand with sweaty palms. Her eyes zipped from the door and back to her father.

"Up-Up on the desk...there should be...a-a panel. Inside the book," he told her.

"What?"

"Flip the switch..."

* * *

 _Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock..._

* * *

She hesitated before getting back onto her feet. The barricade her father braced in front of the door faltered as the home invaders tried to force the it open. In a matter of minutes they would break in. In a matter of minutes she and her father would be dead.

"Quickly!"

The tiny figure darted towards the desk at the far end of the room. His desk was littered with old files and a wide, blank computer monitor mounted to the wall. The book she found was a hardcover encyclopedia that she couldn't pry off of the workplace desk. Her long, strawberry-blond hair whipped madly into her face while she dug her nails into the edge of the book, trying to rip it open. Its first half flipped open, revealing a cut-out square holding a touchscreen pad in its center. With no time to think she pressed her pointer finger into the upper half labeled "on" and hoped for a miracle to appear.

* * *

 _Tick...Tock..._

* * *

"Dad, what is that?!"

"It's our escape...It's...Project W.O.N.D.E.R.L.A.N.D."

* * *

 _Tick..._

* * *

"Father!"

"Go. Now!"

 **PHT-PHT!**

"NOOO! DAD!"

* * *

 _Tock..._

* * *

"Run...Ali-"


	2. Insert One

_{A little girl, fair and frail_

 _Falls down the rabbit hole..._

 _To find her white rabbit,_

 _Her guide into Wonderland}_


	3. And Her Name Was-

Chapter One:

Alicia had been accustomed to being the quirkiest in her class. It wasn't by her accord that she was the odd one out. She was the smallest, skinniest of the group and had the fairest complexion of them all. The other kids thought her a "living doll", albeit her hair was closer to platinum blond of all colors and straight cut across like a Barbie doll's. Besides her love for dresses and skirts, and her fashionable accessories, she was the only child who loved to daydream and take apart hand-held electronics. Her mother blamed her father for that eccentric trait, yet it was her mother who dressed her into "cute and frilly" garbs. Thus, her nickname "Creepy Ally" came to stand.

By her ninth year in high school Alicia felt proud of being different. She nearly smiled to herself when she heard the whispers and witnessed the odd looks from the others. To her they were nothing but talking bugs, gossiping flowers that never tried to make idle banter with her, as she called them. She was the only sane one amongst the "Crazies".

However, she never expected her father to be promoted lead scientist of Britain's finest technical research facility. Her family moved out of her childhood home and into the countryside. Their new home was a brick cottage with a beautiful garden and a forest of trees in the backyard. To Alicia, it screamed "quaint". A sunny-side box to contain her and label her as one of the Crazies.

And so she tucked all of her boxes into the corners of her new room and screamed into her pillow.

And so she began a new life as a new "Alicia Liddell".

* * *

 _Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock..._

* * *

"Alicia! What in God's name did you do to your hair?"

"What? I just used hair chalk to turn the tips blue. It comes out in the shower," the sixteen year-old said.

"I found the box in the bathroom bin. It said 'dye', not 'chalk'!"

"Wait...what?"

Her father tossed the empty carton he stole from the bathroom to her. Alicia caught it, flipped it over and read over the basic instructions.

"Oh...well, that explains why it was so complicated to use..."

"Very clever. But you're grounded none the less."

"Why? I was tricked!"

"By whom?"

"The...register..lady at the pharmacy..."

"Positive about that?"

"She told me that it was temporary! I just wanted-"

"I expected better of you, especially when taking advice from strangers."

Alicia groaned under her breath as she tried to think of something to persuade her father. He turned away before telling her, "The only place you'll be going for the next month is to school. And that's final!"

"Damnit!"

"Make that a month and a week!" he called from the kitchen at the end of the hallway.

"Urg-gh!" Alice hissed through clenched teeth.

It was bad enough that she had no friends to go out to the mall with, but after being grounded she wouldn't be able to walk past the front yard. She'd made plans that weekend to visit town, buy a pack of batteries for her latest project, and try her first latte at the local cafe. Alicia had also spent a lot of time on what to wear since she was going to be surrounded by new people. She'd donned a blue-washed, ruffled, mini skirt, black oxfords, white stockings, a dull white blouse, and a gray jacket. It was enough for a muggy UK summer, but not that it mattered anyway after her father's final say. Alicia told him the truth, however far-fetched it sounded compared to the other "white lies" she had made up, yet she faltered because she knew he wouldn't believe her.

 _He never did take my word for anything..._

Alicia stomped up the stairs to her bedroom. Her cheeks flushed red with fury, her cerulean eyes burnt from tears threatening to form. She felt the railing underneath her fingertips as she mounted the last step. Smooth, sanded, sickly yellow-lacquered, Alicia sneered at it. She blamed the move into the new home, the doubled workload the company put on her dad for getting her into trouble. It was a childish notion, but she wanted it to be anything but her own fault.

"Stupid house," she grumbled. "Stupid everything!"

A huff escaped her lips as she sauntered off to her bedroom. She slammed the door shut, ignoring the temptation to lock it before she hopped onto her plain white bed. Her pillow sat snug in her arms while she stared at the ceiling, wondering about how she was going to spend her weekend before the start of the school year. Eventually she slipped off into random name-calling to distract herself from her earlier frustration.

 _Dad sucks bollocks...Dad sucks big bollocks...Dad just sucks, period._

 _Oh, Father,_

 _you mindless dolt,_

 _how you wonder why I revolt..._

Alicia chuckled. Her made-up poem reminded her of the time where her mother argued with her father about something long forgotten, and the heated debate ended with her mother calling him a "dolt". She was certain that it wasn't meant to be insulting, as they never did fight all that often, but she found it amusing to hear someone win at something over her father. Now that those times were gone...

"Ugh, I'm becoming depressed. New-topic!" groaned Alicia.

She cocked her head back further to look at her latest project sitting on her desk. A cat-like grin spread over her lips as she rolled onto her stomach. Her electrical mesh of a home-made lazer sat where the keyboard to her computer had once been, in its place was a tangle of rectangular plastic and metal screwed together and strewn vicariously in a pile. By her definition it was "a pile of tiny jump ropes". Better that than calling it "Lazer Attempt No. Nineteen". Alicia took to heart Thomas Edison's famous words on his work with the first light bulb: " _I have not failed. I've just found ten thousand ways that won't work"_.

Her love for tinkering never died off over the years. She thought of it as another mystery to solve underneath layers of metal and blinking lights, and she could connect better with her father when it came to appliances. Or, at least, how she wished it would connect them better.

As a scientist, Henry Liddell had a passion for electronics and all the like. He never talked about the project he had been assigned since their move, those quiet and solemn months ago. He worked in the cellar below the coat closet and never allowed Alicia in. It only made her more curious as to what kind of technical project he'd been up to.

 _Curiouser and curiouser..._ she'd always say to herself as she passed by the cellar door in the hallway.

She sat herself at her desk, turned the lamp on, and got to work. The miniature tool kit clanked to her hand digging through for her screwdriver.

"Let's see how this one works out..."

And so she started to hum a random tune to the note of clanging metal.

* * *

 _Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock..._

* * *

"-ve one night..."

"...Bloody insane!"

Alicia stirred in her sleep, waking to the sound of unfamiliar voices from downstairs. Thinking that it was the telly on too loud she rose from her rolling chair and left her room. She descended the stairs and peeked around the corner to find her father sitting in the living room with two men in business suits. Not only did she find it odd to see them meeting at his house at sunset, but that all of them looked young, groomed, slick haired, and handsome.

 _They should be models, not scientists and gold-collars..._

"We've given you enough chances these past few months," one of the men, a well-trimmed, blue-tied red head said.

"But the project is still incomplete. How can you expect the last person left in the group to complete something that takes years, maybe centuries, to finish in a matter of months?"

"We know all about the AI chip and the other 'corners cut' you've used," the other, slick brown tousles and thin-framed glasses, added.

Alicia's father smiled, taking off his own pair and began to massage the temples of his nose. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Patient Mona, Attempt Two-hundred and five. Does that sound-"

The last step creaked underneath Alicia's foot. All eyes turned to the staircase.

"Love, what are you doing down here?" Henry stood up, an alarmed shock in his eyes when they caught glances.

"I...I was just...hungry," she lied. Her poker face cracked at her father calling her "love". She never heard him call her by a nickname.

"You'll have to wait...supper will be ready in another hour."

Her eyes wandered towards the strangers. Henry stood firm, and ordered, "Wait upstairs. I'm just about through with my brief meeting."

His daughter nodded. Slowly she climbed back up the stairs, her heart beating frantically at the thought of her father running into trouble with his company. Alicia had to take a deep breath, telling herself that it was only her imagination.

At the top step she froze. She heard the other men arguing in a low tone with her father and then Henry telling them to leave.

"This isn't over, Liddell," one threatened.

"Unfortunately for you, I have just finished it. Now, would you be so kind as to leave?"

There was the sound of the front door opening, and then one last man, the ginger, asked Henry, "I wonder what our 'director' would think if we let slip that you have such a lovely daughter. What was her name again?"

"Her name..is Alicia." Her father shook his head as if there were water in his ears. "Get out!"

She took two steps down. The last man by the door glanced quickly at her, a greedy smile ripped through his lips, and then he stepped outside.

The door slammed shut behind him.

* * *

 _Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock..._

* * *

The peas on Alicia's plate grew cold as she fiddled with them with her fork. Her appetite left her once she smelled her father's cutlet from the hallway. The scent permeated the downstairs level, a pungent odor that made her stomach churn with nauseous acids, yet her father sat opposite her at the little square dinner table and cut away another piece, unaffected by the smell. His sense of appetite made Alicia want to become a vegetarian.

"It's better not to play with your food."

Her father recuperated from his earlier meeting, but Alicia could still hear their conversation replaying in her head. They meant to be threatening, even bringing her into it all, but she couldn't understand why her father acted like he wasn't disturbed by the one's last suggestion. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something dark behind her father's work, and something even darker behind the stranger's smile.

"Who were those people?"

She wasn't in the mood to be an obedient daughter when her father patronized her during the awkward silence. His muddy brown eyes burned angrily towards her. Alicia met him back with the same animosity.

"They're none of your concern."

"They mentioned your work. They even talked about me."

"Maybe so," he sighed, "but it's nothing for you to be upset about. Everything's perfectly fine-"

The girl slammed her hands onto the table, standing up in protest. "You're mad!"

"Sit down!"

"No!"

Her heart raced erratically, adrenaline pumped through her veins. Alicia ignored her father and demanded, "I should've expected the same thing from you. You're just going to cower into the basement and just work! Work, work, work! To you it's just a distraction from your real problem: you coping with Mum and Addie's death!"

Henry's chair tipped over when he stood up. He didn't bother to put down his utensils; he stabbed his meat knife into the lacquered wood and countered, "I don't care to know what your tantrum is about, but don't you dare bring them up again!"

"You tell me that everything's fine, but it's not! All your doing is telling yourself lies as you shut people out!"

"I'm not going to have this conversation with you! You're already in enough trouble as it is for one night. Don't make this any harder on yourself!"

"What for? I can't go anywhere in this wasteland of a town anyway."

"Go upstairs..." Henry retreated back to his seat. He raised it upright and leaned against the table, wiping his oily face into his palms. Alicia then noticed the withered, exhausted look in her father's eyes. His forehead sank with creased line of stress, bags burrowing under his eyelids. It was the look that she hated, the one that meant he didn't have energy to fight back, a cowardice that settled into him after their family's dilemma.

 _He was never like that before..._

"I-I hate you!"

Alicia stormed through the long corridor, whisked herself up the stairs and slammed her bedroom door behind her. Hot tears blurred her vision, ran down her cheeks, and she tried to smother them with her pillow. She threw her legs up over the bed and laid onto her side. She knew that she had been childish, out of the few times she had been that day, but she couldn't stand to be treated like one. What she wanted most was for her father, the caring one who smiled and joked, to come back to her.

She sobbed into her pillow before falling asleep to the chirping of the crickets in her forested backyard.

* * *

 _A/N: Hey, everybody!_ _I know that the Alice in Wonderland idea with Lunar Chronicles isn't as new, but I want to make this one to be unique in its own way. That said, the little insert before the first chapter wasn't to copy the same style as Marissa Meyer's. I just wanted to put that in there to have the same foreshadowing feel to it._

 _If there are any other readers from the Free! series, please relay back to my profile page for updated info. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the story and to hear from you all soon!_


	4. Down the Rabbit Hole

Chapter Two:

It was two hours until dawn* when her eyelids fluttered open. Alicia sat up, realizing that she fell asleep without a shower. Sweat gleaned over the oily remains of her makeup with mascara-lined tear stains leftover from her late night fit, her day clothes wrinkled from her tossing and turning. It took a moment for her to recount the scene at the dinner table, and when she did she quickly dismissed it. Knowing her father he would've shrugged the issue off, sat by the tellie or read a book from the living room until he fell asleep on the sofa. He'd always find a way to make her look immature.

Her stomach growled at the lingering thought of food. She hadn't eaten much before her big spout with Henry. _He might've put dinner in the fridge. But do I want leftovers, or breakfast?...Should I just wait for the sunrise, instead?_ she thought.

Another peal of growling caught her attention.

 _Nevermind. I think I'll start off my morning on a better note than last night._

Downstairs, Alicia found Cheerios in the kitchen cupboard and grabbed a questionable milk carton from inside the fridge. As she poured the cereal box's contents into a tiny bowl she thought she heard a stirring in the living room. She had already checked that room for any sign of her father, but he hadn't been there. Their tellie's screen was black, and no one had left the lamp on. She assumed that it had to be the wind outside brushing the window causing the commotion.

Before dipping her spoon into the bowl, milk added, there came another restless noise rustling towards the front door. Alicia stood from her seat and walked into the main hallway.

All was silent and still. Silence drummed into her ears as she turned the corner into the living room. She half-expected there to be a squirrel outside chittering inside the front yard's willow tree. Or perhaps the neighbor's cat begging at the wrong do-

"Ee-!"

A hand slipped out from the darkness and covered her mouth, stifling her scream. It pulled her back from the front door. Alicia threw her arms out and tried to fight off the sudden intruder. They shushed her and whispered, "Keep quiet, Alicia!"

He hunched close to the door to the cellar after releasing her. A long cut extended from his forehead to his jutting jaw, his clothes disarray, his eyes dilated.

"Dad?" she asked as she kneeled down to his level. "What's going on-"

"Lower your voice! It's not safe..."

He stretched his chin, peeking up from his corner for something outside by the windows. She turned her head, only managing to catch a glimpse of a light shining through the windowed glass of the door before Henry snatched her arm.

"Open the cellar door behind me! Quickly, but don't make any sound!"

Alicia felt the need to give him a sarcastic response, but forced herself to press her lips closed. At that time of the morning her father wouldn't dare try to play a prank on her, especially when they had an argument earlier. She didn't want to believe it but the way her father's eyes stared back at her proved him to be as serious as the plague.

Then she heard them. Far off voices calling out to each other as they stormed the door. Loud rapping on the wood, then gunfire.

"Dad," she started.

"Go! I'm right behind you!"

Alicia's hands shook as she tried turning the knob. Her father reached out and unlatched it. More gunfire popped, and the front door lock had given way.

"Agh!"

Her father hissed under his breath as Alicia took one step down the cellar's stairs. She turned around and saw the blood spatter on his white-pressed lab coat.

 _Oh my God, this is real! We're being robbed!_

"Nevermind me, just go! Down the stairs!"

He followed behind her after he locked the cellar door. Her mind was frantic with panic while her feet carried her down the stairs. She had to snap back from her frightened thoughts when her knees buckled at the last step. She held her arms out in time to catch herself at the door. Alicia twisted the knob, hearing the invaders pound at the upper level door. Her father shuffled inside after her.

* * *

 _Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock..._

* * *

"Up-Up on the desk...there should be...a-a panel. Inside the book."

"What?" Alicia squeaked.

"Flip the switch..."

Alicia was hesitant. There were so many things trying to wrap around her head, and if she waited any longer the robbers would break in and surely release gunfire on them. She didn't want to die. There was so much she hadn't done yet-

"Quickly!"

She rose from her knees and dashed to his desk. His monitor to his computer hung from the wall above the highest shelf, and there were pieces of random worksheets skittered all over. What caught her eye was a tiny pocket watch-like charm strung from a thin chain on top of an old pile. It looked so bizarre. But it used to be the necklace her mother used to wear.

Her attention was cut short as her father gave a short whimper. She turned around and caught him taking off his lab coat, balling it up and pressing it to his wound. He ordered her again to search for "the book", but she was cornered. There was no book.

Her eyes darted towards the shelving. In the right hand corner by its own shelf case was an encyclopedia closed and front cover forward. She tensed. Her hands dove right for it, but it wouldn't budge. Alicia tried to claw her fingernails into the underside to pry it off, hair catching in her mouth and lashes, but the back of her thumb brushed the side of the hard-back. She noticed then that the papers insides were hollow and plastic-like.

 _A fake book?_

She flipped the top open. Inside was a cut-out square with a touchscreen pad. The switch her father mentioned.

 _Please be something useful!_

Alicia pressed her finger into the "on" section, her finger pad sending a light green glow like a rippling wave across the screen.

Right behind her appeared a strange halo of green blue like harsh seas during a storm. It funneled downward and then cycled itself at the base of the floor. Projector-like machines hung from the ceiling above it, but Alicia's attention drew away from the oddity and towards the door. Shots rang, the bookcase teetering at the banging and pounding taking place outside.

"Alicia," Henry panted. He drew forward, threatening to collapse on top of her, but instead leaned onto the side of his desk. He grunted, feeling the injury in his shoulder oozing more blood than he could contain with his make-shift gauze as time was running out.

"Dad, what is that?!" Alicia demanded, panic rising in her voice.

"It's our escape...It's...Project W.O.N.D.E.R.L.A.N.D."

"I don't get it. What's a swirling thing of light is going to save us fr-"

"Take this." He stuffed the necklace from his desk into her hands. He took a shiny computer chip from a secret compartment in the switch case and clicked it into the back of the fake watch.

"What's this?"

"It's a Navigator. It'll help you get out of here. But for now I need to be brave."

"Father..."

Alicia hadn't used that name in years, but the seriousness in her tone drew Henry's attention back to his daughter. After a beat of silence he clasped his free hand onto her shoulder and told her, "It's going to be okay. I need you to take this and-"

"But-"

"Shhh...Take the watch. Ask Mona, the watch, to locate a girl named Cinder. She's the only one who can stop those people from getting what they want. To get to her you need to look for a man named Erland. Tell him that 'the rabbit hole has been compromised'. He'll know what to do. Stick with him and Cinder, and you'll be able to stay safe. That's the one thing I need you to do-stay safe! Promise me."

Alicia nodded her head slowly, tears forming in her eyes. "O-okay. I promise."

"Good. That's my good girl."

For once, Alicia felt slightly comforted by his compliment.

He walked around the pool of light, placing himself opposite of Alicia. She could see in the light that color was draining from his cheeks, his pale face similar to a skeleton. She swiped away the tears rolling down her cheeks and tried to calm her thoughts. It was the only thing left to do to keep her from breaking down into a nervous wreck.

"Alright, Alicia. Twist the bow of the watch and ask for Cinder."

The bookcase fell over. Alicia obeyed her father.

"Take me to Cinder!"she cried out.

The charm flickered into the light. A wave of lavender flurried through the warping hole, the colors swirling like an artist's palette was mixed in a blender. Alicia's clothes and hair whipped with the currents of air coming from the warp hole, her blond locks blurring the image of her father.

"Now step into the portal," he called to her.

"It's a portal?!"

"Yes. Now hurry!"

"But what about you?"

It was too late. The door swung open, revealing a small team of masked men marching in with artillery in their hands.

"Father!"

"Go. Now!"

Time ticked slowly away in Alicia's eyes after she heard the crackling pop of a gunshot. Her father looked down at his chest, a crimson stain pooling over his white button-up. Then another, and another with the flash of gunfire.

"NOOO! DAD!"

He fell to his knees, looking up at his frightened daughter for the last time and muttered, "Run...Ali-"

"FATHER!"

Alicia attempted to run to his side, to hug him one last time, to tell him that she was sorry for what she said, to try to save him. But, to her dismay her shoes caught on a loose lace and sent her falling down into the portal. She was engulfed in a myriad of colors, tumbling down the "rabbit hole", screaming and teary-eyed as it closed behind her.

* * *

 _A/N: Bam! Action! Yes!_

 _I have finally given you the action that I promised. Next chapter is gonna be a bit bind for me, as I haven't quite determined which of the options of events I wanted to go with yet. Wonder how it's gonna go..._

 _Easter egg:_

 _*How could I not? Especially for a game that had surprising action jumping out at you like the plot did here._

 _See you all-in the next chapter! :D_


	5. Xiao Bai Tu (White Rabbit)

Chapter Three:

 _"_ _Mummy, why's the sky blue?" I asked._

 _"_ _Well, why do you think it's blue?" mummy countered playfully._

 _She smiles down at me. I sit in her lap while the birds chirp in sunny trees. I feel so at peace, so comforted by the sunlight on my face and the flowers bobbing in the cool breeze. She, daddy, Addie, and I all wear our Sunday best and have a picnic in the town park. Addie swings on the swing set with father to push her forward. They smile at each other and laugh. Mummy turns to them and waves._

 _I fiddle with my blue dress skirt as I think of the reason why the sky is blue. It could been that it just liked being blue. Being a kid I have many theories about the sky, and to hear the flowers who whisper sweet words to me through the breeze._

 _"_ _Well?"_

 _I look back to Mum and open my mouth, but then I draw away from her._

 _"_ _What-What happened to you?"_

 _Her face is distorted. She smiles at me just as usual, but one eye is missing, gouged from its socket, and part of her head is smashed inward. Her once white dress is now smeared with gore and red, her hands missing fingers and feet dismembered at the ankles._

 _Mummy reaches out to me with a bloody hand. "Ali-cia..."_

 _I turn to Addie and father for help. My older sister is in the same predicament as my mother, and my father is bloody and full of bullet holes. Each one of them reaches out to me, their eyes glossy like a dead fish's and reek of death._

 _"_ _You did this to us..."_

 _"_ _Wh-No. No I didn't. I didn't!"_

 _I raised my hands up to defend myself. Then I see the crimson staining my fingers, my teenage form in a smaller dress that hangs tight and bloodied over me. I am just as ruined as they were._

 _"_ _Stop. Stop it! I didn't do IT!"_

Alicia jumped awake from her nightmare. She lifted herself up to a sitting position, eyes stinging at the sunlight beaming off of a road. All around she saw people walking past her, eyeing her, some watching over stalls and arguing deals with others in another language. At first Alicia assumed that it was the town square in her new hometown, but after seeing a robotic figure pass by and the electronics others held in their hands she thought to herself, * _I am bloody well not in Kansas anymore._

Picking herself off the ground, Alicia tried to recall the last events that came to mind. First there was her waking up to eat breakfast. Then her father-

She remembered the last moment she had with her father: he was struck by a shower of bullets and collapsed to the ground. Then she fell into the "portal", as he had called it, and after that was a jumble of colors and then..nothing.

 _I...It's obviously just a dream. Just nonsense. Dad's home safe, and I just wandered into town. I should probably find somebody to help me phone home. Then I can relax in my bed...Oh, my soft, comfy bed._

The closest business was a bakery stall that filled the street corner with the scent of sweet buns and icing. Alicia knew how hungry she was, and checked her pockets for any change to spare. She had two dollars worth in her skirt pocket, and in the other was her coin purse with an MP3 and her cell phone.

 _Perfect. I can phone home myself!_

But her chest sunk in disappointment. There was no signal.

She huffed. Stuffing it back into her pocket, she approached the baker's stall. Before she spoke she saw her reflection in a display case. The tear stains on her cheeks made her look like a wet dog. With the back of her sleeve she wiped off as much as possible and pulled a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Umm, excuse me?" she asked the baker.

The owner of the stall had their back turned to Alicia, but she could make out the whimpering form of a middle aged woman with hunched shoulders behind the booth table.

"I'm very sorry, but are you still open?"

The woman turned around. Her widened eyes were full of tears, hair disarray, and she held her hands close to her chest. Alicia spotted blue bruises speckled over the woman's skin.

"Is something wrong-"

A passerby interrupted her with a scream. They shouted one word, and everyone around them slapped their hands over their mouths and darted for cover. Alicia didn't have to know another language to understand what that meant.

It was a disease.

She covered her mouth and backed away from the stall. The middle-aged woman reached out to her, but quickly turned to the side. A little boy tried running towards her. Her child.

A man swept him off his feet, the baker calling back out to the boy while Alicia continued retreating. The townspeople fled the street as she tried to make way to another stand. Its doors were closing, but Alicia was determined to beg to get in if necessary.

In haste to get away, a person from the crowd elbowed Alicia in the back, sending her falling towards the ground. Her forehead smacked into the pavement, and then the shutter door pressed into her back. Her vision was blurred with stars but she could make out a figure in the back of the stall and an android beside them.

"Please...help..."

Alicia fought to pull her arm out from the other side of the door for a table leg in front of her. The other person called for the robot, its name being Iko, and then Alicia was dragged out from under the door.

"Her head's bleeding. Do we have any rags?" the person above Alicia asked.

"Just the dirty ones. Y'know, those filthy ones that are greasy? We really should get rid of them-" the android replied.

"Oh, over there! That one on the shelf."

"Are you sure? It's a sweat rag."

"I've-I've got...my own," moaned Alicia as she sat up against a shelf.

She focused more on the other person as she checked her pockets. A girl, tanned skin and brown hair in a messy ponytail reached out to Alicia to help her onto her feet. Her voice was firm and assuring as Alicia groaned in pain at the base of her forehead.

"You should've ducked into an alleyway."

"Guess you could call it bad luck then, huh? But thanks..."

"Yeah." The girl trailed off in her sentence. In the distance Alicia could faintly hear the cries of a constable siren making way to the baker's stall. The android and its master huddled next to the shelves, a lifeless white droid tucked into the girl's arm for safe keeping.

Alicia kept her handkerchief pressed to her forehead as she asked, "Bloody hell, it's too hot for a summer in the countryside, don't you think? I'd expected there to be rain here in town."

" 'Countryside'?"

"Yeah, it's usually hot, but not blazing at this time of day. And what's with all the robots and stuff out here? Is there some kind of convention going on that I don't know about?"

"There's no convention." The other girl furrowed her brow, her eyes piercing into Alicia with a skeptical glean. For a moment Alicia thought there was a flicker of light in her left eye, but then the girl asked, "Are you feeling dizzy? Or have a headache?"

"No...nor am I crazy, if that's what you think...

"By the way, do you have a cell phone that I can use to call home?"

The teenage girl and her android exchanged glances at each other before addressing Alicia again.

"Riiiiight...Well, Iko and I are gonna go-"

"Go? Go where?"

"We-"the other girl motioned her pointer finger back and forth between her and the android, "are getting out of the booth. Feel free to do the same before the police show up, unless of course you want them to take you to the quarantines...?"

"'Quarantines'? I told you, I'm perfectly fine!" Alicia argued. Although, it was no secret that Alicia could barely stand on her feet. Her head was still swooning since her fall.

"Then make sure to get out of here soon. They'll search the place and I'm not having someone locked up in my booth for the night."

The tone in the other girl's voice stung Alicia's pride. For that Alicia felt determined to prove her wrong, even though she was still keen on finding a phone and food to quell the nervous hunger in her stomach. While it was obvious that Alicia had no idea where she could go once she left the safety of the stand, she knew that it was no use in panicking over it. Alicia directed all of her attention onto the robot and her savior.

 _All I have to do is focus on her. Follow her out, and after that I just think of another plan to get me back home. Simple-as-that._

"We'll go once they start the fire."

"Fire?" inquired Alicia.

"They'll burn down Sacha's booth," the girl simply stated.

"You can't be serious?"

"Are you sure that-"

"Please, for the love of God, don't ask me again. I'm perfectly fine."

Seeing that asking any more questions about the town's medieval practices was getting her nowhere, Alicia pressed her lips together and drew her attention towards the door. The other girl kept it ajar as she crouched down to see what was happening outside. After a minute or two she nodded, signaling both her bot and Alicia to follow her as she slowly crawled out from the work space.

Next went the droid, then Alicia. She was more than happy to get away from the smell of grease and oil, but had to hold back the urge to gag once her nostrils filled with the smell of the fire. The gasoline used created a pungent odor as it evaporated into the air with the flames, sending a wave of nausea rolling into Alicia's stomach. Her eyes fluttered from the nearest guard's back to the other girl. She gulped back the acid and pressed forward.

The two in front of her led the way through the closest alley, sprinting around corners and twists. It was by the first set of tall, silver office buildings that Alicia stopped to gawk at her surroundings. Hovering cars floating feet above her head, the odd, vibrant fashion of the others who passed by her. Alicia had hold of herself until then, until the moment she realized that she certainly wasn't in twentieth-century UK anymore.

 _Oh-my-Goooooooood! It's-It was real! The whole thing in my dream! It's not nonsense! I'm in the future!_

Then the reality sunk in. She was in the future, and her father truly was dead.

A passer-by brushed her shoulder, snapping back at her in a foreign language. Alicia stepped away, bumping into another person and crashed into the pavement. As the other hissed at her in the same, unknown tongue, Alicia crawled her way to the nearest corner. She stood up, watching as the crowd stare right at her. The attention made her panic, making her feel as if she were nothing more than an animal being kept in a cage.

As her eyes darted from person to person, she noticed that the other girl and her robot were no longer around. She was left behind.

Her last hope was that girl from the booth. Alicia had forgotten to ask what the girl's name was so she ran down the sidewalk only going by memory to search for a girl with a brown ponytail. She took turns through skinny alleyways, pushed past the townspeople on more sidewalks, and stumbled over rickety pavement. It seemed like hours before Alicia gave up. She figured by that time the girl would've forgotten about her and had gone home. All tucked into bed and with family...

Alicia found herself in an deserted alleyway, stopping to swipe her fingers at the corners of her eyes. Tears threatened to form, making her even more anxious and scared to be lost. The alley was a dead end two feet ahead; a gated fence blocking off a clearing that gleamed with afternoon sunlight. In a last-ditch attempt, she threw her leg up and caught her right foot into a loop. She pushed off the other leg and clung to the links.

"Oof!"

Her other foot slipped, sending her back down to the grimy pavement below. Alicia bit her tongue as she tried to keep from screaming out loud. Pain ebbed up and down through her spine, bringing tears to her eyes. Out of nowhere she heard herself give a faint sob. One tear, then many, rolled down her cheeks.

"S-s-stop it, stop it, stop it!" she snapped at herself. "It's no use crying about it, j-just stop!"

Half of her fought back the tears while the other was deep in despair. Her instincts told her to keep moving but her body refused to move any further. She had no idea what to do at that point. Before Alicia was running on denial and instinct. But now all she wanted was to give up.

 _"I want you to stay safe"..._

Her father's voice echoed into her head, acting like a beacon of light. She lifted her head, remembering his last wish and feeling for the pocket watch he gave her. She found it tucked safely inside her coat pocket.

 _Father said to find someone...someone named Erland...and a person named Cinder...he told me to be brave,_ she thought as she clutched the watch tight in her hand. Alicia thought of his plea and the look in his eyes before he was shot down. Even when she wished in the back of her head to redo their last month together, it was no use trying to feel sorry for herself and the situation. There was no time to mourn. She had to press on.

The watch's chain was long enough to wear as a necklace. Alicia put it on over her head and let it slide down around her neck as she turned around, taking determined strides back to the main street with a small but renewed determination.

* * *

 _A/N: B'okay, I'm terrible. It took this long to write a new chapter?_

 _Don't worry, I'm jumping back on the wagon to see this fanfic through. As for the others...I'll try to get as much done with them as I am juggling all of my other duties away from my keyboard._

 _I hope to hear from you all soon! See you in the next chapter! :D_


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